Angela's Past
by nesaan.gun
Summary: Every knows about Angela, and her influence over the Inheritance series. This is the story of her becoming the witch and the herbalist that we know and love. Angela struggles with the harsh and ignorant people of her town and must learn to accept her power and what she will do with it.


Chapter 1:

_Jierda._ That was the word inscribed on the copper plate. Angela had been exploring the Tüdosten forest when she stumbled upon the plate. Alongside it was a number of items that a traveller would carry. Some matches, a few rations that have long expired and a knapsack but something about the plate attracted her attention. She could tell the word had power, had magic.

Magic was taboo in her town. It was said that only the cursed used magic and only so that they could spread evil under the name of the devil.

When Angela was only four years old, her mom told her that there was a chance she was cursed. Her mom said that Angela's dad was one with the curse. He had lied to her mom and tricked her into marriage. He had her mom convinced that he loved her, but after she discovered that he could use magic she knew that it was all lies. Those who could use magic, those with the curse, could never love another person. Anyone in town could account to that.

Since the curse can pass down through blood, her mom said that there is a chance she might also have it. Her mom always told her that if the devil ever tempted her to use the curse, she must reject him. She must immediately go to her mother, so that her mother may take her to the town priest to attempt to cleanse her.

Angela had asked her mother what would happen if she could not be cleansed, what happened to her dad after the town failed to cleanse him, but her mom would never say. All Angela knew was that after they failed to cleanse her dad, he disappeared. She never saw him again.

Angela wanted to take the plate to the priest so he may dispose of the evil correctly, but she didn't know how she could explain to the priest that the plate was magic. She could just feel that the word itself emanated power.

"Jierda" she whispered to herself, cautious to make sure no one heard, although she was alone in the forest.

She decided that the she would just leave the plate where she found it. There was no reason that it could do anything evil without a follower of the devil to use it. It was about suppertime, so she decided to go home.

Her mom was waiting on the porch like she always was when Angela went exploring outside. Her mom was always anxious when Angela was outside alone.

"Anything special happen?" her mom asked.

She was never blunt about it, but she was always alluding to if the devil approached her.

"Nothing Ma", Angela answered. "I just played with the animals".

"That's nice, dear. Go to your room and read your books. I will call you when supper is ready".

Angela skipped up the staircase to her room. She enjoyed reading her books. It always calmed her mind. She especially enjoyed reading books about herbs. When she grew up, she wanted to be a healer like her mother. She knew that the cursed could never heal like her mother. If she could heal people like her mother, that would prove she was not cursed.

As she started to read her mind started to wander. She sometimes felt that if she tried hard enough, she could explore the deepest recesses of her mind. The calmer she was, the better she could do it. And if she went deep enough, she reached an indescribable section. Whenever she reached that area in her head, she felt powerful. She felt that she could perform the impossible when she accessed that part of her head.

After a few moments of trying, she succeeded in doing it. It usually took her a few hours to accomplish the task, sometimes she couldn't do it at all, but today it came to her fast. As she relished in the power doing this made her feel, Angela thought about the plate she had seen. She wasn't sure why, but she felt that she should say the word inscribed on the plate.

"Jierda" she whispered still entranced by her power.

With a burst, the book she was holding shattered into multiple pieces. Fragments of paper scattered throughout the room.

Angela's heart started to beat faster than it had ever done in her life. The book explosion was no simple occurrence. Angela had performed magic. Not just any magic, destructive magic. In seconds, and with one word, she had reduced a book of healing to pieces.

She was what her mother was afraid she would be. She was cursed.


End file.
